Weekly "Focus" and a 2-Handle

Having worked on a trading floor earlier in my career, you would often hear traders yell out a stock had a certain “handle” which is the price before the decimal point. For example, a stock trading at $3.98 has a “3-handle” and if it traded up to $4.05, the trader would yell out that it now had a “4-handle”. The big economic number this week was the latest inflation data in Canada that now has a “2-handle”, as the Consumer Price Index or CPI dropped to 2.9%. The Bank of Canada would be pleased by this reading as inflation works back towards their 2% target. Also, with a “2-handle” is Nvidia*, the AI semiconductor chip powerhouse. Not the company’s share price, up 65% already in 2024, but the company’s market value as it is now more than US$2 trillion (i). At that valuation, it is only trailing Microsoft* and Apple. Here is a list of the 10 biggest companies in the world as ranked by market value:

 

Company		Sector		Market Value U.S. $
Microsoft		Information Technology		$3.1 Trillion
Apple		Information Technology		$2.9 Trillion
NVIDIA		Information Technology		$2.2 Trillion
Saudi Aramco		Energy		$2.1 Trillion
Amazon.com*		Consumer Discretionary		$1.8 Trillion
Alphabet (Google)*		Communication Services		$1.8 Trillion
Meta Platforms*		Communication Services		$1.3 Trillion
Berkshire Hathaway		Financials		$901.0 Billion
Eli Lilly*		Health Care		$756.2 Billion
Broadcom*		Information Technology		$651.0 Billion

(Source: Finance Charts)

 

This week’s "Focus" from our economics team is attached.

 

Have a great weekend,

 

Brad

Senior Portfolio Manager and Senior Investment Advisor